44: HAMILTON AURIFEROUS DEPOSITS OF NOYA SCOTIA. 



hoping that these facts, may be some shght aid to others in pursuing 

 further researches into the subject. 



The outhnes of the well marked geological districts, which com- 

 prise the Gold Fields of Nova Scotia, are already pretty generally 

 known. I Vvill only briefly state that they consist of two distinct 

 districts, of different geological ages. We have upon the Atlantic 

 Coast the Lower Silurian rocks, forming a band which extends the 

 whole length of the Nova Scotian peninsula. This district is not 

 less than fifty miles in width at its western extremity, gradually 

 narrowing as it proceeds eastward, and finally coming almost to a 

 point at Cape Canso. The other district — the Devonian, and Upper 

 Silurian — forms several comparatively lofty and isolated ridges. 

 One of these extends from Digby County, along the south side of 

 the Annapolis valley, to the vicinity of Windsor. Another com- 

 mences at Cape Chiegnecto, forms the Cobequid Hills, and, with a 

 slight divergence from its original course, proceeds eastward to the 

 Strait of Canso, throwing off spurs north-eastward to the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, and south-westward on both sides of the Stewiacke 

 River, In the Island of Cape Breton, nearly the whole of Victoria 

 County, a large portion of Inverness, and several detached eminen- 

 ces in Cape Breton and Richmond Counties, belong to the same 

 formation. Among the gold bearing formations of this Province, 

 I might also include the Trap ridges, considerable as to extent ; 

 for auriferous quartz has been discovered and to some slight extent 

 mined, in the Trappean headlands of Partridge Island, and Cape 

 D'Or; but I will leave this geological district out of further 

 consideration. 



The extent of the two larger districts which I have indicated, 

 comprises, in the aggregate, a large proportion of the surface of 

 Nova Scotia. I would roughly estimate the area of the Lower 

 Silurian district, at 7,000 square miles, and of the several tracts 

 of the more recent formation at 3,000, in all 10,000 square miles. 

 The whole area of the Province of Nova Scotia, amounts to about 

 18,600 square miles. It must not be assumed that this large 

 area is throughout auriferous. I will observe, parenthetically, 

 that judging from what is already known, there is every reason 

 to believe that future explorations will prove the greater part 

 of this area to be rich in metalliferous deposits of some kind. 



